Possible rape attempt in Park Slope

idlewild · April 2006

While parking the car on a block in Park Slope (around 8 p.m. last week) my brother and I were alerted to screams coming from up the block. At first it sounded like the usual kids horsing around. Then I saw a man making a fast walk down the block past the car and the screams continued. I got out of the car to find a woman in hysterics in her doorway. Other people who heard her screams were by her side. She had said that the man had followed her for two blocks and that she made a run for her ground floor apartment, which has a sunken doorway, and that the man accosted her by swiping at her ankles. Her screaming scared him off.

If you notice that you are being followed do not go into your house. If there are open stores/restaurants available. Go into any of them tell the manager/owner that you are being followed and call the police. If you have a cell phone call the police on the way to the store. The number one thing to do is to surround yourself with people. In fact mace may not be a bad idea either. My guess is if the perp had put his hand over her mouth first we would not have heard any screaming.

armchair_warrior · April 2006

good advice.

kosherdave · April 2006

I can not believe this kind of thing goes on! WTF! crazy.

ic96 · April 2006

Where exactly did this take place? What blocks?

pitu · April 2006

Something happened on Union Street, just up from the Fourth Ave R train stop, a few days ago. Is this the same incident?

I was walking on Fifth Ave, and overheard a guy running by say to his friend that "X just got busted." I recognized him as one of the guys that hangs out a couple blocks over. I didn't make out the name he said, but it sounded like they were talking about their buddy.

Just after, I walked down Union toward the train. There were police cars, and a guy in cuffs. The buzz was the guy got chased and held by other people around at the time. Nobody said anything about a rape -- the lady who told me said a woman was pushed down, in a robbery.

idlewild · April 2006

pitu wrote: Something happened on Union Street, just up from the Fourth Ave R train stop, a few days ago. Is this the same incident?

I was walking on Fifth Ave, and overheard a guy running by say to his friend that "X just got busted." I recognized him as one of the guys that hangs out a couple blocks over. I didn't make out the name he said, but it sounded like they were talking about their buddy.

Just after, I walked down Union toward the train. There were police cars, and a guy in cuffs. The buzz was the guy got chased and held by other people around at the time. Nobody said anything about a rape -- the lady who told me said a woman was pushed down, in a robbery.

Negative. It's not the same incident. I don't know if it's the same person. I'm not going to give any details about where in Park Slope because I'm trying to keep the lady's privacy as much as possible. The real point being that you need to be aware of your surroundings. This kind of thing happens everywhere, not just the Slope. It's a fucked up world out there folks.

pitu · April 2006

Idlewild wrote: The real point being that you need to be aware of your surroundings. This kind of thing happens everywhere, not just the Slope.

You are absolutely right about that.

There's women's self-defense classes available locally that are quite good. CAE offers a special class for teen girls, and does off-site seminars for offices, schools, etc.

http://www.cae-bklyn.org/programs.html

anonymous · April 2006

Subject: location?

a general area (as a woman who walks home from work late at night every night) would be helpful to others, however.... i respect your consideration for privacy but it's a bit counterproductive to warn people about someone in the neighborhood who could be dangerous and not at least give some geographic reference? makes it too easy to get paranoid.

idlewild · April 2006

With all due respect, if you see someone following you for two blocks, and you get a suspicious feeling, will you not act on it because I say the incident happened on block A and the block you are on is block C? I will say that the man in question is around 6ft, has tan/brownish skin and wore a blue windbreaker and a dark blue/black baseball cap. He looked between 30-40 years of age and looked like every other working person that you might see.

Let me stress that living in the Park Slope/Prospect Heights area for most of my 40 years...I have seen everything from muggings to spousal beatings to attempted rapes and murder...they come in all colors, shapes and sizes and were spread throughout the neighborhoods. Don't wave off a feeling just because the guy following you is wearing a 3 piece suit and you're both strolling along PPW. Like I say it's a sick world out there.

ic96 · April 2006

After talking with my fiance last night about this, we both agreed that having an idea of the area would help here. How would there be harm from saying, for instance, 9th St and 8th Ave? Of course you should always be cautious and aware of your surroundings, but specifics help a great deal. How would it have helped anyone on the Upper West Side last year when that rapist was breaking into women's apartments if it was said that the area he was targeting was between 110th St, and 59th St?

Also, from another forum, it was mentioned that the Police do monitor forums such as this to see what is going on in the community. Who knows if this lady even called the police after the incident?

http://www.brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3009

It is up to you if you feel comfortable giving out the area, but I think the only thing it would do is help.

idlewild · April 2006

Because we called the police, we even looked for him. After thinking about this myself I will say that the general area was between St Johns and 7th ave and Union St and 6th ave. The lady who was accosted did the right thing by screaming, scaring him off and describing the person to the police.

brooklyn aphrodite · April 2006

as woman who lives in the aforementioned area, and who usually walks from the subway alone anywhere between 6 and 9 pm, I DO appreciate the area specifications. Usually there are several other people out, even kids, so for something like this to happen at 8pm will make me pay more attention.

Yes I know this can happen to anywhere and at anytime, but it doesn't hurt to tell your neighbors. Who knows, maybe this person will be caught trying to do the same thing because he picked a woman who has been reading this post who kicks him hard enough in the balls to keep him immobile while calling the cops.

anonymous · April 2006

Subject: Possible Rape?

While your idea of concealing a woman's ID might stem from the right place, the lack of detail in your "warning" does really not help anybody much.

I know there is someplace on fire right now too, but I don't know where....right?

idlewild · April 2006

I gave the description of the guy and the grid area of where the events started and ended........what else is there to give?

ic96 · April 2006

I think the poster above might not have looked at the entire thread, but thank you for following up with the grid and description!

anonymous · April 2006

Idlewild wrote: I gave the description of the guy and the grid area of where the events started and ended........what else is there to give?

I think you gave more than enough information and people are being idiots. If this guy is still out there I doubt he is going to try it again on the EXACT same block at the EXACT same time.

People need to get a clue and be aware of their surroundings no matter how safe they think their block is.

Thank you for the warning. I live in PH, but I used to live in PS. I thought the F station on at 7th was one of the scariest places during off hours.

My very simple thoughts!

Possible rape attempt in Park Slope

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